Kalpakam Swaminathan, Nada Inbam

Kalpakam Swaminathan - vINai
Thanjavur Kumar - mrUdangam

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall.
24 Nov 06, 6:30 pm

sarisanAbhA - nATTai - Adi - Paramesvara Bhagavathar
srI mahA gaNapatim - aTANA - Adi - Jayachamraja Wodeyar (RS)
parImaLa ranganAtam - hamIrkalyANi - tisra Ekam - MD (R)
sankari nIvE - bEgaDa - rUpakam - Subbaraya Sastri (RS)
mInAkshI mE mudam - gamakakriyA - Adi - MD (RTNS)
tani Avarththanam
charaNu charaNu - chenjuruTTi - rUpakam - Anai ayya(R)
Ehi annapUrNE - punnAgavarALi - Adi - MD (R)
iTu sAhasamU - saindhavi - Adi - ST
madhyamAvati short sketch.

Smt Swaminathan began her concert with a nice rendition of the nATTai varNam, which was played a bit faster than the usual tempo. It was quite surprising to hear her elaborate aTANA right after nATTai. The kriti was rendered with nice fast paced svarams at the pallavi. The hamIr kalyANi AlApanai was good and was distinctly differently structured from her elaboration of the same rAgam a couple of days ago at a different concert. The kriti (the one with anupallavi and caraNam) was rendered with a lot of bhavam.

The bEgaDa AlApanai was too good. And it showed the intricacies of the ragam. The kriti was played with nice svarams. The main AlApanai was nice and so was the tAnam. The kriti was rendered with nice neraval and svarams at the usual, 'madurApuri nilayE maNivalayE'.

The post tani part featured 3 kritis in madhyama sruthi. The chenjuruTTi was good. This is the third time Smt Swaminathan has elaborated the rAgam in so many concerts but still the kritis she presented were different at all the occasions and every time she played the ragam, it was refreshing and enjoyable. The punnAgavarALi came up as another surprise and the AlApanai was short and crisp and too good. The kriti was rendered very well with a lot of bhavam. The jAvaLi was good also.

This is the third time i have heard, Smt Swaminathan in a couple of weeks time and after each concert i have felt longing for more of that divine music. I can only pray to listen to more of Smt Swaminathan at frequent intervals.

Sri Kumar on the mrudangam was very accomadative and played very much in line with the kritis and sangatis that the main artist played. His playing for neraval and svarams also was quite in tandem with what Smt Swaminathan played. The tani, though short, was very good.